ECB Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said in a El Pais newspaper interview over the weekend that the central bank will scrutinize incoming data to decide whether to hike after this summer.

He said “the key question will be if the slowdown is temporary — with a bounce-back during this year — or more durable.” For now, there is resilient domestic demand in Germany, France and Spain. And that kept recession risk low even though outlook was clouded by protectionism and Brexit.

And de Galhau also noted that there was strong convergence of views within ECB about the sequencing of the next policy steps, as well as the flexibility about timing.

ECB Executive Board Member Benoit Coeure said in a newspaper interview that policymakers expected “growth to return in the second half of the year”. He told German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung “there are no grounds for overly gloomy thoughts”. However, he admitted for now “it is very uncertain how long and how strong the downturn will be.”

On monetary policy, Coeure sees no argument for tiered deposit rate. He urged banks to focus on their own costs, rather than blaming ECB’s negative rate for lower profits. Meanwhile, currently, markets are pricing in no rate cut until at least 2021. Coeure warned “we are not tied to such market expectations; they are an important input, but we are not led by them.” He added market pricing are merely reflecting “an assessment of the downside risks which is different to that of the Governing Council”.

ECB Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau, in an Ecorama radio interview, stated, “Barring shocks or surprises, rate hikes are over. However, he emphasized that “doesn’t mean a quick rate cut.” He further clarified, “We are not guided by a calendar, we are guided by data,” and called for “confidence and patience.”

Villeroy also commented on the pace of disinflation, noting it is occurring “a little quicker than expected,” largely due to the faster-than-anticipated transmission of monetary policy. He concluded, “In other words, monetary policy is effective.”

Madis Muller, another ECB Governing Council member, expressed the view that markets might be “a bit optimistic” about the prospects of early rate cuts. This sentiment was echoed by Robert Holzmann, who stated that there were no discussions about rate cuts among policymakers. Holzmann also mentioned that a majority of the Council members perceive upside risks to inflation.